Astro Saber/XTS3K CPS Out of Band Instructions

[dxon2m]

It didn't took too long to find out, but since I have yet to seen someone post the hex address to modify a R split XTS3000 to receive out of band, I figured I'll do it myself.

Disclaimer, I will NOT be responsible for dead radios! USE THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK!


What you need is
1.) Hex workshop
2.) Astro Saber/XTS3000 CPS (R05.02.00) is used here:

For R split radio, the advertised bandsplit is 403-470, but CPS lets you enter up to 477 with a warning message. With this mod, you can make CPS accept frequency from 403-512. Obviously, your radio won't lock that high. Mine maxed out at 483 Mhz.

0.) Make a backup of AstroPort.exe before you monkey with it!

1.) Open Hex Workshop

2.) Go to Tools -> Base Converter

3.) Select Byte Order: Intel and Data Type: Unsigned Long

4.) Enter 477Mhz, or 477000000 in hertz in the decimal box, the hex representation is shown on the right, which is 40716E1C

5.) Enter the bandsplit you want to hack up to. I used 512Mhz, which is 512000000 in hertz. I entered that in the "Decimal" box. The hex representation is shown on the right, which is 0080841E

5.) Go back to Hex editor, using the "Find" function, search for 40716E1C in "Hex Values", there should only be one result returned, if not, double check the digits entered, the location of bandsplit limit for 477 and 512 should be very close to each other.

6.) Replace the 40716E1C with 0080841E, then save and close.

7.) Fire up CPS, and test it out!

For my CPS, the bandsplit definitions are located at 0x00CA4B4C for 477 and 0x00CA4B68 for 512. Yours may be different.

I will do the same also for 450-440 if anyone is willing me to email me a codeplug of a S split radio!

Good luck!
Dennis

[Rayjk110]

Both of my XTS3000's and AstroSabers would just let you put it in...no modding. This was the latest CPS, too. All it would say when writing is "Warning, out of band frequency (or something like that, can degrade radio, yada yada yada), Continue packing? [ok] [cancel]. And that was it.

[fire_master_21]

mine will only allow me to enter down to 445.xxx with CPS.

[mr.syntrx]

Both of my XTS3000's and AstroSabers would just let you put it in...no modding. This was the latest CPS, too. All it would say when writing is "Warning, out of band frequency (or something like that, can degrade radio, yada yada yada), Continue packing? [ok] [cancel]. And that was it.

My low split UHF radios will let me do go up to 477 MHz with warnings (band limit being 470 MHz.) It won't let me enter frequencies higher than 477 at all without modification (R05.00.02.)

[Pj]

It seems to depend on the splits and models. I have had two lower splits that would go to 520, some would stop at 477.

I have one radio that will read/write 403-520 without a hickup in RSS, but won't allow new/changed freqs with CPS. CPS will still write there radio with the higher freq's, as long as I don't change those.

[mr.syntrx]

I have one radio that will read/write 403-520 without a hickup in RSS, but won't allow new/changed freqs with CPS. CPS will still write there radio with the higher freq's, as long as I don't change those.

That's the behaviour I see here.

[kato56]

Dennis,
I have a S-Split XTS3k that was programmed down to 440 in dos RSS. Now I would like to use CPS (05.02.00) to work without giving me the error. Do you have the hex edit info??
Thanks, Duane

It didn't took too long to find out, but since I have yet to seen someone post the hex address to modify a R split XTS3000 to receive out of band, I figured I'll do it myself.

Disclaimer, I will NOT be responsible for dead radios! USE THIS GUIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK!


What you need is
1.) Hex workshop
2.) Astro Saber/XTS3000 CPS (R05.02.00) is used here:

For R split radio, the advertised bandsplit is 403-470, but CPS lets you enter up to 477 with a warning message. With this mod, you can make CPS accept frequency from 403-512. Obviously, your radio won't lock that high. Mine maxed out at 483 Mhz.

0.) Make a backup of AstroPort.exe before you monkey with it!

1.) Open Hex Workshop

2.) Go to Tools -> Base Converter

3.) Select Byte Order: Intel and Data Type: Unsigned Long

4.) Enter 477Mhz, or 477000000 in hertz in the decimal box, the hex representation is shown on the right, which is 40716E1C

5.) Enter the bandsplit you want to hack up to. I used 512Mhz, which is 512000000 in hertz. I entered that in the "Decimal" box. The hex representation is shown on the right, which is 0080841E

5.) Go back to Hex editor, using the "Find" function, search for 40716E1C in "Hex Values", there should only be one result returned, if not, double check the digits entered, the location of bandsplit limit for 477 and 512 should be very close to each other.

6.) Replace the 40716E1C with 0080841E, then save and close.

7.) Fire up CPS, and test it out!

For my CPS, the bandsplit definitions are located at 0x00CA4B4C for 477 and 0x00CA4B68 for 512. Yours may be different.

I will do the same also for 450-440 if anyone is willing me to email me a codeplug of a S split radio!

Good luck!
Dennis

[Astro Spectra]

If the radio already has out of band freqs between the normal limit and the 'extended' CPS frequency limit then you can continue to add out of band frequencies, with the warning, to the limit of the extension.

The extension in CPS appears to be the typical limit of the VCO although there is no accurate deviation cal and so the digital TX performance suffers rapidly as you move away from the specification band edge.

You can still alter the extension of current CPS versions by using the method described on the Batlabs site.

I don't know what happens if you already have freqs in the CP that are beyond the extended CPS limit.

[Pj]

Did the above for an R split, CPS keeps defaulting to 477, any suggestions?

[Pj]

Disreguard...

Hexworkshop wasn't saving the file as it said it was, worked around it, all is good now...

[Gman]

I tried this on CPS 4.01.02 and 04 with no luck.I made sure Hex work shop saved it,but I cannot get my bottom limit Astro Saber of 450 down to 440.Any suggestions,Thank you....

[Gman]

Check that....I uninstalled the CPS,then reinstalled...When I did that I noticed that it would let me program my particular radio down to 445 without mod,like other people said.So all I did was search for thr 445 in the Editor and lower that.Viola,now I got some 70cm Repeaters in there now.Thanks for sparking my intrests with this post...

[Pj]

Anyone know the location for lowering the S split radios (to change 445 down futher)?

Looking thru the instructions, I am finding multiple locations for 445 in the CPS 5.2.00

[Gman]

Hey PJ,Email me... I will give you my "Junk" Email... [email protected]

[Pj]

Bump?

And email sent..

[kato56]

I actually tried changing all locations listing 445 to 444 and it's working fine for me. I saved the original exe file and figured it wouldn't hurt to try it.

Anyone know the location for lowering the S split radios (to change 445 down futher)?

Looking thru the instructions, I am finding multiple locations for 445 in the CPS 5.2.00

[Pj]

Yup, thats what I ended up doing. I was searching for 450, but there were two instances of 445, that also needed to be changed to 440. Works like a charm.

[kato56]

OOps.. I meant I changed the 445 to 440....... Glad you got it working

[scancapecod]

I'm a recent XTS3000 owner, and I purchased Astro CPS 05.02.00 so I could program it. I finally took the plunge today and gave this mod a try. I found it very simple to accomplish, and this is the first time I ever used a hex editor for anything. The only "issue" I had was trying to save AstroPort.exe. I had to do a Save As, name it something else, and then change filenames (Yes, I did backup AstroPort.exe before I started. I prayed a little too... ).

I was able to upload receive only personalities as high as 484.4375 and have them work just dandy. This is a neat mod for me as the adjoining county is loaded with PD activity on 482 MHz. I use this radio for 70CM amateur use, but with all of the free space it's nice to be able to add a whole new set of personalities that were previously not able to be programmed.

From a relative "newbie", my thanks!